Going into spring practice, the Memphis football team was eager to get back on the field and continue on the momentum of a 7-6 2007 season. During the off season, the Tigers made several personnel and staff additions that should insure the 2008 Tigers will be a team with new faces but the same mentality.
"Overall, I really believe we should have some of the best leadership we have had from a player's standpoint this spring," Coach Tommy West said of the Tigers' spring prospects. "What we need to get of this spring workout is to just get better at what we do."
One leader West will not have this season is quarterback Martin Hankins, due to graduation. However, the Tigers wasted no time after last season ended in the New Orleans Bowl to try and find Hankins' replacement. As of tomorrow's Blue-Gray game, the Tigers have four players competing for the top quarterback spot.
Either sophomore Matt Malouf, returning junior Brett Toney, redshirt freshman Dallas Walker or junior college transfer Arkelon Hall will be the chief play caller this season. However, the pressure of finding a starting quarterback by September's season opener with Ole Miss will be made easier with the Tigers' top six wide receivers from 2007 returning.
Even better, the Tigers will get to display an experienced offensive line tomorrow. Anchored by five seniors and one junior, the O-line, which had trouble protecting the quarterback and creating holes for the running back last season, is expected to correct those problems come September.
"I don't see any reason why this can't be our best offensive line ever," West said. "We will be good upfront protecting our quarterback. We can throw the ball, and again, we will be extremely talented at wide receiver."
With the offense still in good shape, one of the more dire concerns for West and the Tigers was improving the defense. Though improved from 2006's 2-10 season, the defense struggled for the second season in a row last year in defending the running game and the passing game.
The Tigers had the 100th overall defense in Division I in 2007, allowing 441.46 yards per game. Their scoring defense was not much better ranked 96th in the country after allowing 32.2 points per game.
To remedy this, the Tigers hired Tim Walton, former defensive coordinator at the University of Miami, to the same position. As a defensive backs coach at LSU, Walton helped to lead the Tigers to the National Championship in 2003.
Ever since firing former defensive coordinator Jo Lee Dunn in 2006, the Tigers have had trouble filling the spot with a permanent replacement. West briefly took over defensive duties for the rest of the 2006 season before hiring one-year replacement Rick Kravitz at the start of last season.
"Tim is a great football coach and is very demanding of his players," West said. "I'm really excited about getting after it with our defense this year. We need to get or defense and cut it loose. The difference in us winning seven, eight or 10 games is we have to play good defense."
As well as being in control of the overall defense, Walton will also command the safeties in the defensive secondary.
"You have to understand that when you play as aggressive as I like to play in the secondary, you are going to get beat every now and then, but you're going to make some big plays," West said. "That's been the problem lately - we get beat some, but we are not making the big plays."
The Tigers' spring practice began last month and will conclude with the annual Blue-Gray game tomorrow at 1 p.m. Prior to the game, there will be an awards ceremony at 12:45 p.m. in which the spring's top performers will be recognized.
The game, which will feature players from the spring roster playing against each other in a friendly game, is the official last session of spring practice and is free to all fans. It will be played at the Liberty Bowl.
